The use of concentrated cleaning products and fabric care products is well known. Concentrated cleaning products have been delivered in several variations of the following forms: concentrated powders, concentrated gels, concentrated pastes, and concentrated liquids.
Concentrated liquid, pastes and gels are delivered in ready-to-use forms and for reconstitution into ready-to-use products by addition of water. The reconstituted laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid products typically do not produce the viscosity desired by the consumer. The delivery system, refill system or direct-over-package systems are typically not biodegradable.
Liquid and gels formulations for direct application by measuring cup and dispensing pumps, said 2× and above, are generally in conflict with the consumer habits of larger volume application. This leads to over-using the product and, therefore, product usage cost increases. It also leads to higher use of plastic containers and a large amount of waste to the environment.
Laundry detergent sachets in unit dosage have a disadvantage over measurable liquids due to the nature of their discontinuity that is the dosage cannot be adjusted higher or lower without opening another unit dose. This increases the usage cost in some applications and produces a shortage of detergent requirements in other applications. Pre-dosed unites of dish-washing detergents for machine applications generally do not present the disadvantage noted above. However, the use of high foaming detergents is typically limited without proper defoaming agents. Machine dish-washing formulas in powder form generally make use of high alkalinity salts and silicates, which are typically abrasive to fine glass. Moreover, pre-dosed fabric softeners that are added to wash cycles have the disadvantage of losing efficiency due to several factors, such as dirt on the fabric and excessive rinsing.
Pouches of products in water soluble film need to be protected from moisture. Specifically, the moisture of the environment needs to be kept as constant as possible during storage, transportation and use. For this purpose manufacturers use re-closable plastic bags with moisture barriers or plastic containers as over-package. These materials are not biodegradable, some are recyclable to an extent and some are not.
The concentrated powders are generally dusty, which can expose the consumer to ingestion by inhalation and present solubility problems. Powders, unlike liquids or gels, have limited use as pre-spotters in laundry applications.
Fabric softeners cannot be concentrated as much as laundry formulas due to the high viscosity of concentrations over 20% of active material. High viscosity is not a desirable feature for the fabric softeners due to the short release time from the product dispensing system during the application cycle.
The laundry formulas packaged in water soluble film contain organic solvent and generally between less than 7% water per weight, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,319, or organic solvent and between 10% water by weight and 24% water by weight, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,416, or do not contain organic solvent and contain a water content of at least 35% by weight, as described in Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0281658.
None of the above disclosures relate to a viscous gel containing no organic solvent, or containing little organic solvent as a viscosity modifier and a detergency enhancer, and with a water content of between 25% and less than 30% by weight. Also, none of the above-referenced disclosures relate to formulas containing dissolved and particulate salt with the dual purpose of reducing the effective concentration of water, also known as water activity, and serving as a reserve to produce a thick ready-to-use end product that satisfies consumer expectations on viscosity, such as, for example, a viscous liquid of between 400 Centipoise and 1,500 Centipoise. Moreover, none of the above-referenced disclosures relate to using a dish detergent containing high foaming surfactants aided by a silicone-based or other type of defoamer in a multi-chamber pouch or packet to be used in machine dish washing applications.
Heretofore, there are no known formulations containing a fabric softener concentrate paste having a latent state thickener, which will swell (e.g., form a hydrogel-upon reconstitution with water producing a ready-to-use viscous product of viscosity between 200 Centipoise and 400 Centipoise). Viscosity range can be extended up and/or down by the use of controlled amount of the polysaccharide in the formula. In addition, none of the disclosures relate to formula without polysaccharide to allow the use of the system as a single dose that is reconstituted with water in the fabric softener application wells of laundry machines.
Moreover, heretofore, there are no known disclosures describing the use of cellophane film, polylactic acid film, or wax or biodegradable polymer-coated paper to protect the moisture environment of cleaning products packaged in water soluble films.
In addition, there are no known disclosures of a mixing system, manual or powered, that produces a chopping action to aid in: 1) the dispersion of the concentrated material; and 2) solubilization of the salts and prevention of foam formation in the products during the reconstitution step.